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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27310900">Tamahagane</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/themysteriousinternetentity/pseuds/themysteriousinternetentity'>themysteriousinternetentity</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Gen, NaNoWriMo 2020, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, no betas we die like mne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:40:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,754</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27310900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/themysteriousinternetentity/pseuds/themysteriousinternetentity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tashigi's passion for recovering the legendary swords and dedication to justice had to come from somewhere. </p>
<p>This is her story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tamahagane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of the characters or worldbuilding therein, and make no claims of such. I did this for fun and to show my love for the story. I make no money off of this and do not want to. This work is not approved by, sponsored by or affiliated with the creators of the manga or the show, or any of the translators or official people with rights to said media.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"All right honey, go play!" Tashigi clung to her grandmother's skirts shyly, and slunk further behind her. "I promise they're nice, see? Look, Ella has a baby doll. I bet she'd be willing to share if you ask nicely, you could play house."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tashigi did not <em>want</em> to play house. Not one bit. What she wanted was to go right back home and stay with Mommy and Daddy, but apparently she was a Big Girl now, and Big Girls needed to learn how to play with other kids.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That sounded pretty sketchy if you asked her. She was doing a perfectly good job playing by herself, thank you very much. "Go on, dear." Slowly but surely, her grandmother peeled her fingers off of her skirt and shoved her gently towards the other children. Tashigi watched her with complete and utter betrayal as she walked away and <em>left</em> her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hi, I'm Azure. Do you wanna play with the blocks?" Tashigi whirled around and stared at the girl with wide eyes. "Um. Okay?"</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>Apparently Tashigi didn't play with blocks <em>right</em>. Nobody had ever told her there was a right way to play before. Azure was very confident though, apparently you were supposed to build things based on the colors instead of making them strong so they wouldn't fall down.</p>
<p>Tashigi was questioning this "socializing" thing more and more by the minute, but she tried doing it Azure's way. It was very boring; her towers couldn't get tall at all without falling over with a clatter. Azure squeaked every time they fell too, and she was very loud. Tashigi was beyond relieved when her grandmother told her it was time to go home now. This had been terrible.</p>
<p>"What do you mean I have to do it <em>again</em>?" </p>
<hr/>
<p>Tashigi was following her mother through town, obediently waiting while she shopped, when something shiny caught her eye. As her mother stopped to chat with Mrs. Rockford, Tashigi slipped away to look through the window of a store she’d never entered before. There was a sword on display, and it was absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>Longer than she was tall, with an elegant blue handle and shiny, beautiful steel, Tashigi wanted to hold it more than <em>anything</em>. She touched the glass wistfully, then jumped in surprise when a man cleared his throat next to her. “Hello there little miss. Do you like swords?”</p>
<p>She stared up at him with wide eyes, then nodded furiously. It was the coolest thing she had ever seen, she <em>absolutely</em> liked it. “You’ve gotta be careful with those, you know. They’re very sharp. A little girl like you would need to start with one of these.” He walked over to a basket by the door and picked up some kind of wooden stick. “This is a practice sword. It’s a better size for you too, see? Do you want to hold it?”</p>
<p>She reached out gingerly and took the sword from him. It was heavier than she expected, and when he let go it dragged her arms down as it hit the ground with a thud. “Here, hold it like this.” He adjusted her hands, and she picked it up in front of her, scowling in concentration to keep it in the air.</p>
<p>Holding it sent a thrill through her veins, and she smiled broadly. “Thank you, mister-” Tashigi gasped. Oh no, she forgot to ask for his name! That was very rude of her, wasn’t it? He chuckled.</p>
<p>“My name is Eiichi, and you are?”</p>
<p>“Tashigi!” She told him brightly, and he smiled.</p>
<p>“Oh, you’re Hajime’s daughter, aren’t you? Shouldn’t be surprised you’ve got an eye for good weaponry this early, even if it’s different from what he uses.”</p>
<p>“Tashigi, <em>what</em> are you doing?” Her mother stalked over and frowned at her. “Are you bothering this nice man?”</p>
<p>“Lieutenant Satomi! It’s been awhile.”</p>
<p>“Oh, Eiichi!” she smiled broadly. “I see you’ve met my daughter, Tashigi.”</p>
<p>“I sure have. She had a sparkle in her eye from the moment she laid her eyes on Shigure over there, just like when you get ahold of a good rifle.”</p>
<p>“Oh dear, really?”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t miss a look like that. How do you feel about me teaching her?”</p>
<p>“You’d be willing?”</p>
<p>“If she’s willing to work hard.” He smiled down at Tashigi. “How’s about it? You want to learn how to use a sword <em>properly</em>?”</p>
<p>In that moment, Mr. Eiichi was her favorite person alive. “Yes please!”</p>
<p>He grinned at her mother. “Want to give it a shot?”</p>
<p>She laughed helplessly. “Well, how can I say no to that? You get to explain it to Hajime though.”</p>
<p>“Fair enough!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Satomi, I don’t like it.”  Tashigi frowned in concentration as she carefully picked up another strand of her doll’s hair, doing her best to weave it into a braid like Grandma had taught her. Behind her on the couch, Mommy and Daddy were talking about the nice sword man. “She’s so young, surely it can wait a few years?”</p>
<p>“You didn’t see her face, love. She’s got the spark, and I don’t want to stifle her! If it’s what she loves, how could we keep her from it?”</p>
<p>“She’s five! Give it two days and she’ll be in love with seashells or something, come on.”</p>
<p>“So she tries it for a bit and then quits, so what? You can’t tell me you never did the same thing. The worst that happens is that she learns a little bit more to help her protect herself one day. Is that really so wrong?”</p>
<p>“I just…don’t like the thought of my sweet little girl learning to hurt people.”</p>
<p>“Hajime, I won’t have my daughter grow up helpless.” Tashigi pouted in frustration. She dropped the hair and the braid came all to pieces. Now she had to start over, ugh.</p>
<p>“We agreed we wouldn’t pressure her into the Marines.”</p>
<p>“She doesn’t have to be a soldier to know how to protect herself! You of all people know that we can’t be everywhere at once. If she decides to be a housewife like your mother wants then she’ll be one who can look after herself dammit.”</p>
<p>“Don’t bring my mother into this, Satomi, you know she has nothing to do with it.”</p>
<p>“Oh doesn’t she? You’re definitely not thinking about her face when her precious grandbaby walks in with calluses on her <em>delicate</em> fingers, then?”</p>
<p>“If I was so concerned about her opinion of women, I wouldn’t have married <em>you.</em>”</p>
<p>“…I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair of me.”</p>
<p>“I haven’t been fair either.” A sigh. “If you really care this much about it, she can try it. If there’s anyone I trust to look after her, it’s Eiichi.”</p>
<p>Tashigi gave up and picked up the doll, turning around and looking at Mommy with pleading eyes. “I can’t fix her hair.”</p>
<p>Mommy laughed. “Oh dear, bring her here. What did you <em>do</em>, it’s all tangled!” Daddy picked her up and plopped her on his lap, smiling softly.</p>
<p>“So, you want to learn how to use swords.” She nodded furiously, smiling.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh! It was really pretty and shiny and so <em>heavy</em> when I held it, but not the pretty one, I had to hold a prac-tice sword because I’m too small yet, but it went swoosh <em>swoosh</em> and Mr. Eiichi said that if I work a lot then maybe I can learn how to hold a BIG one.”</p>
<p>“You’ll have to tell me all about it after your first lesson, then.”</p>
<p>“Um.” They turned and saw Mommy frowning, with her hands and fingers all tangled up in the doll’s hair. “I think I’m stuck, dear.”</p>
<p>She giggled. “You’re silly, Mommy.”</p>
<p>“Looks like we’re going to have to hop in to the rescue, hm?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Daddy?” Tashigi swung her legs back and forth, grasping her cup of juice very carefully as she set it back on the table.</p>
<p>“What is it, honey?” All she could see was his back as he dug through the pantry looking for the chocolate chips.</p>
<p>“What do you actually do when you go to work?”</p>
<p>“Aha! Chocolate chip pancakes, coming right up.” He swung the door closed and turned back into the kitchen. “I’m a Captain, you know that.”</p>
<p>“Yes, but what does a Captain do?”</p>
<p>He hummed thoughtfully as he dragged a bowl out of the cupboard next to the stove and started measuring out flour. “Well, I’m in charge of the base here on Allure. That means that it’s my job to make sure everyone else does <em>their</em> jobs. It also means I have to make sure I’m very good at fighting, so that if any dangerous pirates attack I can protect all of you. Honestly, it’s mostly a lot of paperwork.”</p>
<p>“Huh.” She took another drink of her juice. “Do people not do their jobs sometimes?”</p>
<p>Startled, he laughed. “Well, sometimes. Usually they do though. It’s more that I have to figure out what their jobs are, and then tell them what they should be doing.” He cracked a few eggs into the bowl, and started stirring. “I make sure that somebody keeps track of how much food we all eat for example, and that somebody is paying everybody like they’re supposed to be. I also have to approve when we need to spend money to do something like fix a ship or buy a new one.”</p>
<p>“Oh. So you’re really important?”</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t know about <em>that</em>.” As he lit the stove and set a pan over it, Mommy came out of the bathroom in her uniform and kissed him.</p>
<p>“Bleck,” Tashigi wrinkled her nose.</p>
<p>“Don’t be overly modest, silly. If you weren’t here we’d have <em>Horus</em> in charge, you’re vital for all of our continued happiness.”</p>
<p>Daddy shuddered visibly. “Don’t even joke about that. Please. I’m going to get him transferred away one of these days, mark my words.”</p>
<p>“I await that day with bated breath.” She grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the table. “I’m running a little bit late, you two have a good day.”</p>
<p>“What, not sticking around for pancakes?”</p>
<p>“New recruits won’t train themselves, you know.”</p>
<p>“They have chocolate chips,” he wheedled.</p>
<p>“Well, in that case…no.”</p>
<p>The door slammed behind her, and Daddy shook his head. “Well, we’ll have to save some for her dinner.”</p>
<p>“I want one shaped like a sword!”</p>
<p>“Oh you do, do you?” He frowned in concentration, staring at the batter like it held all the secrets to the universe. “I’ll have to see what I can do.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Oda: doesn't provide an in-depth character backstory<br/>Me: itsfreerealestate.jpg</p>
<p>This is my NaNoWriMo project, so updates should be consistent for once. I'm not going to promise every day though, because it will depend on where the most natural chapter divisions fall.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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